Thirteen months, one surgery and a handful of head-scratching headlines after his heralded arrival in the Crescent City, the blond Oklahoma bomber finally made his debut for the New Orleans Saints on Friday night at the Superdome.

There weren't a lot of offensive fireworks for the Saints in their 17-7 exhibition victory against the Bengals.

Shockey's final numbers -- three catches, 61 yards -- were solid, especially considering he compiled them in less than a half of work. But the raw numbers aren't what mattered. It was how Shockey amassed them.

Michael DeMocker/The Times-PicayuneNew Orleans Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey celebrates one of three catches for 61 yards and a touchdown in Friday night's 17-7 exhibition victory over the Cincinnati Bengals at the Superdome.

He outraced defenders to the hashmarks and beat linebackers down the seam. He outleaped a host of defenders for the Saints' first score, a 22-yard snare in traffic down the heart of the Bengals' defense.

"That's a play we practice all the time," Shockey said. "Drew made a great pass and I was fortunate to come down with it."

Asked if he thought he was covered on the play, Shockey laughed.

"With Drew Brees you're never covered," he said. "If the defender has his back turned, you can bet he's probably going to unload the ball."

Only a handful of tight ends in the league can make such an athletic play. And Shockey wasn't one of them a year ago, when he was hampered by a sports hernia that eventually required surgery.

"It's a blessing just to be healthy," Shockey said. "Last year I was injured at this time. Everyone on this team has been putting in a lot of hard work, and it was good to show everyone a taste of what this offense can do."

It's scary to think how good the Saints' offense can be with a weapon like Shockey added to the mix. Since Payton arrived in New Orleans, he's begged for a tight end who could threaten the middle of the field.

"He's someone that can definitely dominate between the hashes," Saints wide receiver Marques Colston said. "He's done that throughout his career, and we got a glimpse of that today."

Forget those 12 games Shockey ran around in last season. That was an imposter.

Shockey told us as much this preseason, but it took Friday night's performance to confirm it. Even after Shockey returned from surgery last season, he wasn't 100 percent. He still was trying to master the offense, then he turned an ankle late in the year.

The Shockey we saw against the Bengals looked nothing like the one who took the field a year ago. And Shockey was loving every minute of it.

Instead of a bored seven-year veteran, he acted more like an over-exuberant rookie. He played to the crowd after catches and enthusiastically popped to his feet after being tackled. His nervous energy was noticeable from the press box.

Even late in the game, while many of his veteran teammates had long since retired to the bench or had begun making postgame dinner plans, Shockey focused his attention on the field. He ran onto the field to congratulate teammates after big plays -- and even some not-so-big ones -- and counseled the younger ones on the sideline when they came off the field.

Who said veterans hate preseason games?

"I try to be into the game as much as I can," Shockey said. "Even those guys that are in there aren't with the first unit, you can always give them advice.

"It was a lot of fun out there," he added. "It didn't feel like a preseason game. It felt like a regular-season game.